Sour-Cream Chocolate Cake w/ Whipped Cream Frosting

As some of you may know, my brother Seth just left for his first year of college. It has been rocky for a while so we are happy that he gets to go. Anyway, at our church, a few other parents with first-year college kids young adults got together to check in on one another while eating dessert (why not?). My family fits into this category, so I offered to make a cake for the gathering. I decided on this cake. 

As you may notice, the cake recipe is the same as the one for the Chocolate Peanut Butter Awesome Cake, but I made it have 2 layers instead of 3. 

Sour-Cream Chocolate Cake w/ Whipped Cream Frosting

Makes an 8-inch two-layer cake. This can serve a varied amount depending on how big you cut the pieces. Recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

Cake Ingredients

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-process

1 1/3 teaspoon baking soda

2/3 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup canola oil

2/3 cup sour cream

1 cup water

1 1/3 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

2/3 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

Cake Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cake pans. Coat the bottoms with cocoa powder, so the cake will not stick to the pan. 

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks and let cool completely.

Whipped Cream Frosting

Recipe for whipped cream from Food 52.

Frosting Ingredients

1-pint heavy whipping cream 

3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 bag of Ghirardelli mini chocolate chips

Frosting Instructions

Put heavy whipping cream, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla extract in a bowl with a mixer. Whisk the ingredients together until the cream forms stiff peaks. It is preferable to make the whipped cream right before serving it. This makes the whipped cream very fresh. If that can't be done, don't worry. All you need to do is keep the whipped cream refrigerated. 

When assembling the cake, add whipped cream between the cake layers, but before you put the second layer, sprinkle some chocolate chips. Add as much as you want, but save some for the top. Then add the next layer and frost normally.  When finished, sprinkle more mini chocolate chips on top. I didn't use an entire bag of mini chocolate chips. I might have used half a bag.